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Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Tasty Tucson Tour: Biosphere 2 and bagels

Ever see the movie Biodome? Well that place actually exists. It's called Biosphere 2 and it's just north of Tucson in Oracle, Ariz. To read more about the place, including the eight people who spent two years locked up in there, go here.

Anyhow, I went there for a story assignment last week (you can check the story out here), but I was in a complete rush to get there because I am not a morning person. So I stopped by Bruegger's Bagels, a Vermont-based chain that's located in 22 states, but not Illinois.

And I know why. Illinois residents, and Chicagoans in particular, know was a real bagel tastes like. And they know how much it costs. So handing me some pastry-like hunk of bread with sugary cream cheese and charging me $3 for it just isn't going to cut it.

I got the Asiago bagel with light plain cream cheese. There wasn't much cheese flavor at all. Furthermore, the cream cheese was sugary, sort of like a super thick, semi-sweetened cream cheese pie filling. Not appetizing. Neither was the price. As I said in my photo gallery, it might not have been the worst bagel I've ever had, but it was definitely the most expensive.

The Biosphere, however, was pretty interesting. It's been a bit neglected for the past three years, but now the University of Arizona will be taking over its operation, so here's hoping that it will become a tourist hub.

Oh, and if you go, I didn't see a place to eat on site. And bring water; they do have a tropical area inside. If you want to check out more pictures of this giant terrarium, check it out here.

6 comments:

The library looks like a nice hotel room..thinking Vegas haha..Anyway, those are great pix. Thanks for sharing :) By the way, I'm sorry about your 3 bucks bagel. I had a similar experience, with burgers. I was desperately hungry, didn't check the price beforehand, and ended up paying 10 bucks for "a" burger ! :(

Being a current Chicago and former NYC resident, I actually hunger for New York's bagel competence. The only place I've found in Chicago that can truly call itself a good bagel is, ironically enough, New York Bagle and Bialy. Here's a pretty good thread about Chicago-area bagels.

Given that NYBB isn't convenient for me, I broke down and started making my own.

Anyhow, nice blog - I came to it via your posting on the Reader Food Chain blog (I work at the Reader but am not a food or other type of journalist, just a computer hack). Keep up the good work!

Gar...not to be a complete twit, but when we did the biosphere...it just wasn't worth the $24 per person to walk around by ourselves. That place needs a MAJOR overhaul! That said, I did enjoy seeing the cattle on the road in :)